Wednesday, December 1

Tuesday, October 5

Ibn Hibban relates in his book that the poet Abu'l Atahiyya said, 'I went to see Harun ar Rashid, the commander of the faithful, and when he saw me he said, 'Are you Abu'l Atahiyya, the poet?' I said 'Yes' then he said to me,'Give me some counsel in a few lines of poetry, and be brief!'

Monday, October 4

I remind myself as I remind you, of the beautiful example of the mother of Musaa (AS) having trust in Allaah the Most Exhaulted as she threw the delight of her heart in to the Nile, waves clashing with him, the water carrying him to what would seem to the onlooker to be the last sight of him. So it is an affair which breaks the heart, tears apart the inntermost self and burns the soul.... A mother throwing her son to what may seem as destruction can only happen with trust and assurance in Allaah and reliance upon Him and noone can do that except those who truly rely upon Allaah and are confident in Him.

It is well known that resigning an affair to Allaah alone and reliance upon Him, removes confusion, hesitation and anxiety which weakens the self, wearing down the body, giving way to distress and sorrow.

Ibn Qayyim (RA) said:

"If he resigns his affair to his Lower and is pleased with what He chooses for him, his Lord supports him with strength, firm resolve and patience in what He chooses for him. Likewise his Lord saves him from the weaknesses which are a result of the servant choosing for himself. The his Lord shows him the beautiful results of His choices for him, which he would not have arrive at if he was left to choose for himself.

He relieves himself from the burdensome thoughts concerning the numerous choices, and empties his heart from suppositions and comptemplation by which he ascends the mountains and falls down from others. And despite that he cannot escape from that which has been decreed for him. So if he is happy with Allaah's choice, then the decree overtakes him and he is thankful."

In essence, relying on the tranquility and pleasure that lies within the decree of Allaah the Most High, is realising the great pillar of Emaan and a great reward with Allaah (inshaAllah). It is the clarification of anxieties, tranquility to the heart and peacefulness to the soul. Whomsoever is granted tranquility and pleasure at the judgement of Allaah and His decree, has been granted an abundant food and noone experiences this except a believer.

I pray Allaah increases our Emaan and grants us of this abundant tranquility and pleasure at His decree and judgement. May we always be content with that which we are faced with. Ameen.

Extracts taken from "The 3 abandoned prayers" by Shaykh Adnan Aali 'Uroor.

Friday, September 24

SubhanAllah we are all so eager to run and reap rewards in ramadhan, but as soon as Eid day comes for many it sadly goes out of the window...the time keeping, discipline, prayers, deeds and more.

Some weeks ago I came across a beautiful book called “Jewels of guidance“ (Darussalam) which compiles gems and extracts from the lives of the great Shayukhs Ibn Baaz, al Albaanee and Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allah be pleased with them). The following is taken from the chapter on Shaykh Ibn Baaz:

It has been narrated that he valued his time to such an extent that,

“If he requested something from someone on the other end of the telephone and was required to wait for a response, he would pass his time glorifying Allah (saying:SubhanAllah) and seeking forgiveness from Allah (saying Astaghfirullah)“.

To me this is a beautiful example. If we become lapse in our value of time on big things by procrastinating lots the time will slip from our hands at speed to no value at all. Where as if we take care of filling even the small periods of free time we have, not only could we multiply our ajr and seek forgiveness but we take care in valuing our short passage on this dunya.

Those are my thought today. Allah bless you all with good in this life and the akhirra and help you to attain peaks of emaan and taqwa by valuing the time we have ameen. Whilst for many it is too late while we still have a breath left and we still have time.

Saturday, September 18

"And tell the believing women to subdue their eyes, and maintain their chastity. They shall not reveal any parts of their bodies, except that which is necessary."

Quran 24:31

A quick thought, I just don't understand why sisters insist on walking around the university campus or in public for that matter with "hijab" accompanying their skin tight jeans, skimpy tops, low cut tops with everything on show, with half masts on leaving nothing to the imagination. Infact in many cases the clothes are practically sprayed on. Worst still I've seen sisters with "niqab" on but everything still on show. This is all often accompanied with guys in their group and caked on make up...i mean why? why? why? what is the point?

And it makes me sad....

I feel sad that my fellow sisters in the deen feel the need and pressure to fit in.

I feel sad that they do not accept and understand the concept of hijab or niqab.

Friday, September 17

Thursday, September 9

I pray that all our ibadah was accepted, and we are forgiven for the shortfalls, and mistakes we made during this month and our lifetimes.

May Allah (swt) protect us from the lure of shaytaan and give us the tawfiq to fast in shawwal too. May we all be granted the best of the dunya and akhirra (Ameen)

"Abu Ayyoub reported that the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said "Whoever fasts the month of Ramadhan and then follows it by fasting six days during the month of Shawwal will be rewarded as if he had fasted the entire year. [Muslim, at-Tirmithi, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood and Ahmad by way of Jabir]. "

These days can be anytime during the month of Shawwal except the first day because it is unlawful to fast the day of Eid. These days do not have to be at beginning of the month nor do they have to be consecutive. Hence, Muslims should seize this opportunity and fast these six days to get Allah's reward.

Why the fasting of six days of Shawal after Ramadhan equates that of the whole year? Some `Ulamaa' say that the good deed is rewarded ten times. Thus fasting six days is like fasting 60 days, added to 30 days of Ramadhan times 10 (i.e. 300) it makes it a year.

Allah grant us all the tawfiq and increase our Emaan many fold.

Ameen

Remember...fasting is not just for Ramadhan - the blessed opportunity is ours to avail on other days throughout the year Monday's, Thursdays, mid-month days, Shawwal, Dhul Hijjah and Muharram for example are all ours...Allah may not bless us with another Ramadhan, so why not take advantage and follow the sunnah whilst we still have a breath left.

I ask Allah to forgive and raise the ranks of our beloved brothers and sisters that have departed from the dunya this month and to reunite us all in Jannah. May Allah ease the pain of their beloved and make this test easy for them so that they may reap the reward in the akhirra

Sunday, August 29

It is made clear in the Quran and the Sunnah that for an action to be a righteous action and for it to be acceptable to Allaah, the One free of all imperfections, and one which draws a person close to Him, then it must fulfil two important conditions.

The first is that the intention of the person doing must be sincerely for the sake of Allaah.

The second is that it must be in accordance with what Allaah, the Blessed Most High, prescribed in His Book and what His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) explained in the Sunnah.

If one of the two conditions is absent then the action is neither a righteous action nor is it acceptable. This is indicated by the saying of Allaah, the Blessed and the Most High:

"...So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord."

(Surah Al-Kahf: verse 110)

So He, the One free of all imperfections, orders that the actions should be "righteous", that is in accordance with the Sunnah. Then He orders that it should be done purely for Him and not for any incentive. Al Haafidh Ibn Kathir said in his tafseer: "These two things are the two pillars of an acceptable action, it must be done purely for Allaah, and done correctly in the manner prescribed in the Sharee'ah of Allaah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم)." This is also reported from al-Qadee 'Iyaad, rahimahullaah, and others.

Saturday, August 28

So this Ramadhan I've been getting to know my arab neighbour from the apartment next door, Sr B.

It all started the night before 1st Ramadhan when I first knocked on her door - considering to this point i'd only ever heard her voice through the wall speaking in arabic or laughing.

So anyway I took her some dates, and she and her husband were very appreciative mashaAllah...2 days later she made some coconut sweets and sent them over...

And so the exchanges continued...every couple of days, I'd make something or she'd make something and send it over...

Thing is she doesn't actually speak english...so the communications a tad limited...anyone got any suggestions?

The other day mashaAllah she was returning my plate and gave me this wonderful looking dessert, may Allah reward her in abundance. Check it out:

Lil' chocolate chewy sweets with a chocolate cheesecake type thing...

So anyway now all my work colleagues are itching to have Muslim neighbours....Talk about thinking with your stomach! Anyway the point of this post is that I feel blessed to be able to share things like this with my Muslim neighbours....it's rare to find people so caring mashaAllah - let's hope it carries on far beyond this blessed month....not just for the food exchange!